’ISIS’ Razes Oldest Christian Monastery in Iraq, Releases Civilians in Syria!

Local Editor

"ISIS" terrorist group late Tuesday released 270 of more than 400 civilians it had abducted during its assault on the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor.

However, some 130 other civilians are still held by the terrorist group, most of which are teenagers and adult men.

Separately, the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq was reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of "ISIS's" relentless destruction of ancient cultural sites.

For 1400 years, the compound survived assaults by nature and man, standing as a place of worship. In earlier centuries, generations of monks tucked candles in the niches and prayed in the cool chapel.

Currently, satellite photos confirmed the worst fears of church authorities and preservationists in which St. Elijah's Monastery of Mosul has been completely wiped out.

"ISIS", which broke from al-Qaeda and now controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, killed thousands of civilians and forced out hundreds of thousands of Christians. Along the way, its fighters destroyed buildings and ruined historical and culturally significant structures they consider contrary to their so-called interpretation of Islam.

For now, St. Elijah's joined a growing list of more than 100 demolished religious and historic sites, including mosques, tombs, shrines and churches in Syria and Iraq. The extremists defaced or ruined ancient monuments in Nineveh, Palmyra and Hatra. Museums and libraries were looted, books burned, and artwork crushed - or trafficked.

According to Chaldean Catholic pastor in Southfield, Michigan, Rev. Manuel Yousif Boji, who remembers attending Mass at St. Elijah's almost 60 years ago while a seminarian in Mosul, "a big part of tangible history has been destroyed."

"These persecutions happened to our church more than once, but we believe in the power of truth, the power of God," said Boji.

Relatively, Iraq's Chaldean community became the largest abroad after the sectarian bloodshed that followed the US invasion in 2003. Eventually, Iraq's Christian population dropped from 1.3 million then to 300,000 now, according to church authorities.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team